Before anything else I would like to apologise to you if you sent an email to Molly over the past couple of weeks. A server upgrade meant that emails were not forwarded to me, they were probably returned to you as ‘not delivered’. It is not just me ignoring them so please do resend. I understand the glitch is now sorted.

This week sees a little more light shed on the new ‘defect rate’ and some good news regarding DSRs.

[For admin details for this newsletter, please scroll down to the end.]

1. EBAY NEWS – DETAILED FEEDBACK DUE SOON

At last some good news about feedback, soon we will be able to see the detail behind our DSR scores. This should allow sellers to address specific issues rather than only have a general idea of what went wrong.

Starting in late April, detailed seller ratings will no longer be anonymous. We will be able to run reports showing which transactions received low DSRs.

I have been waiting for this for a long time, now if somebody leaves a low score for dispatch time I can immediately block them from any further purchases. Given that I know my dispatch times are spot on why would I want to trade with this person again? In fact if you take this one step further anybody who marks you down may well do so again so perhaps they should be prevented from doing so.

On a more positive note these detailed reports may point to a badly listed item, incorrect item specifics or a postage log jam to certain parts of the country/world. It will be very useful to have this information.

2. HERMES PRICE CHANGES

Now here’s an interesting development. Hermes have reintroduced the ‘up to one kilo’ price band for parcels. This was removed a while back and I would imagine that demand fell away. For instance, Molly switched around 40 parcels per week back to the Royal Mail.

However with RM about to hike prices and the cost of a collected sub one kilo parcel with Hermes now £2.78 (tracked and insured up to £50) I will be re-thinking.

It is a little cheaper to leave your parcels at a local ‘parcelshop’, all the details are on the Hermes website.

Delivery times may well be an issue for you but for those bulky, lightweight orders it may well be worth taking a look.

myHermes Courier Collection Prices

WEIGHT BAND

PRICE EX. VAT

PRICE INC. VAT

Between 0-1kg

£2.48

£2.98

Between 1-2kg

£3.32

£3.98

Between 2-5kg

£4.57

£5.48

Between 5-10kg

£6.23

£7.48

Between 10-15kg

£8.32

£9.98

Signature on delivery

£0.83

£1.00

Remote area delivery (IM,HS,ZE)

£1.67

£2.00

3. POWERSELLER SPOOF

Here’s a silly ebay spoof doing the rounds at the moment, quite obvious that something is amiss as I don’t know anybody who has been on a super sales streak lately.

A little closer scrutiny reveals that the destination website for the links is actually http://www.babyblankets.ie. The scammers have annexed part of this site to set up their phishing page.

————————————————————–

Dear Member eBay ,

You’ve been on a super sales streak and since you’ve done so well, it’s time to recognize you for your
efforts. You are PowerSeller Silver!

Congratulations! joining the eBay Silver PowerSeller Program. Come and join us. When you join the PowerSeller program,
you’ll be able to receive more of the support you’ll need for continued success. So, why wait? Join now!

- PowerSeller Priority Support via email webform and phone support at Silver level and above.

- Exclusive offerings on the PowerSeller portal–check in frequently to see updated program benefits and special offers!

- Discussion Board for you to network with other PowerSellers.

- Free PowerSeller Business Templates for business cards and letterhead.

Membership to the PowerSeller program is FREE.

Again, congratulations and best wishes for your continued success!

Regards,

eBay PowerSeller Team

Please Become an eBay Power Seller within 24 hours

You are receiving this communication because you are part of the PowerSeller program. This is a one time communication.
There is no need to unsubscribe. eBay will not request personal data (password, credit card/bank numbers) in an email.

Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners.
eBay and the eBay logo are trademarks of eBay Inc.

—————————————————————————-

Although this is not the best example of a spoof, it does highlight the fact that some of them just don’t make sense. Why would you be invited to join the program when a little later you are told that you are part of the scheme already?

4. ASK MOLLY – ARE DISCOUNTS A THING OF THE PAST?

“Hi Molly,

“I have read the ebay explanation about ‘defects’ and am now very confused and worried about my seller discounts. Is there any way of keeping them after the new rules kick in?”

The short answer is that I think it will be very hard to achieve the new standards and to be honest I am sure that ebay don’t really want to give any discounts so this should suit their purposes very well.

Will the new defect rate change the way I conduct business on ebay? Well, I can’t see how I can improve, certainly with cosmetics. each item is offered for sale as a commodity, I don’t wax lyrical about how it will change your life, it is a certain product of a certain size at a set price. All items are dispatched within 24 hours, most within 2 or 3. If something is wrong with the item then it is sorted quickly.

Yet still the negative feedbacks come for “Item not received!”. I suppose I could send everything tracked but does it really cost in for a £3.99 item?

What I am really saying is that even with Molly running at DSRs of:

Item as described

Communication

Dispatch time

Postage and packaging charges

it is the buyer who can decide your future.

Take the example of an ‘item not received’. I ask my buyer to open a dispute case to which I respond. I am calling their bluff to a degree but also INR should be logged against their name and anything above a certain level should be acted upon. Now I will give myself a defect for this.
Then you get an email from a buyer like this:

“hi seller.
I received your envelope but there is no item inside. Are you playing a joke on me? Please refund my money”

When you look at the feedback this guy has left for other sellers he must be the unluckiest person around with so many problems in only 100 or so transactions. There is not much that a seller can do with this kind of buyer.

There is a formula that ultimately will give you a percentage score for defects, it is:

“Number of defective transactions / number of transactions * 100″

So for example, if you have 1000 transactions a month on ebay and 15 of them had a defect you would have: 15/1000*100 = 1.5% defect rate.

This becomes interesting when two sellers are identical in all but defect rates when the less defective seller will be placed above the poor performer in the search results.

This calculation relates to a 90-day period for most large sellers. The defect rate is compiled from a raft of problems and includes.

Item as described DSR – If you get a 1,2 or 3, that transaction will hit your rate

Dispatch time DSR - if you get a 1, that transaction will impact on your score

Feedback – negative or neutral feedback will be detrimental.

Returns – If an item is returned and the reason is ‘not as described’ that transaction counts.

Seller-cancelled transactions - probably not a common problem, this is when a trade is cancelled due to running out of stock.

The Molly plan is to continue as I do now and see how things pan out. Any seller discounts I receive whilst most welcome are not critical to my business success and I would advise that for the purposes of financial planning they should be discounted.

If you have a question about ebay or home working in general, please send it to me at the usual address. I will reply personally to every email I receive and, remember, there are FREE copies of my book available for the best questions, tips or stories.

– END NOTE –

Just time to bring you this ‘unedited’ note from a potential customer:

“JUST TRYD TO BUY THIS AND IT WONT LET ME BECAUSE I HAVE 2 UNPAID ITEMS ON MY ACCOUNT HOW CAN I BUY SHOULD I SEND MONEY TO YOUR PAYPAL OR CAN YOU SEND ME AN INVOICE THANK YOU XXX CAN YOU DO IT ASAP I HAVE RUN OUT AND NEED THIS WITH ME ASAP THANK YOU XXX”

Let me think for a minute… no. This is why we have a bar on buyers with ‘unpaid item strikes’. I feel it is my duty to defend the seller that gave you the strikes in the first place by removing the option to buy from Molly. Go to a high-street store and pay the full price!